Miriam
by SeaSpectre160
Summary: Jake and Nessie have to give up their daughter when she is born. 15 years later, the Volturi plot to get their hands on her, but luckily she has a new school guidance counselor who can lead her to her family and the man she will love forever. SC/OC.
1. Prologue

**Hello, and welcome to my first Twilight fic! I've been working on this for over a year, and I hope you love it.**

**DISCLAIMER: I only own Miriam.**

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A piercing shriek filled the room. A young woman with curly, light brown hair clenched hard onto her husband's right hand. Their matching wedding bands scraped together as she shuddered in pain. "It's okay, Nessie!" a woman with long dark hair encouraged her from her other side, "You're doing great!"

Just outside the door, a very nervous grandfather-to-be paced back and forth, listening to his daughter's cries. He looked too young to even have a child at all, let alone a grandchild. His brothers and sisters gathered around him, trying unsuccessfully to calm him down. Even Jasper's influence had no effect on Edward's nerves.

"Just calm down," Alice assured him, "I'm sure everything's fine."

Another high-pitched shriek could be heard, followed by loud wailing. "You did it!" Jacob hugged Nessie tightly. Despite being exhausted beyond belief, Renesmee Black's expression was lit up as her newborn daughter was placed into her arms. The baby's inquisitive brown eyes stared up at her parents' faces, and her cries soon turned to laughter. The doctor, now a great-grandfather despite having the appearance of a man in his mid-twenties, opened the door to let everyone in.

The baby's family all crowded around the bed: Edward, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Carlisle, Bella, Rosalie, and Emmett. Or at least, her mother's side of the family. Jacob only wished his pack members, Quil, Embry, and Seth, could be there, but they were away visiting the other pack in La Push. Even though he was the Alpha, the guy in charge, he'd stayed behind simply because he wasn't going to leave his wife alone when she was so close to her due date.

* * *

Only an hour later, the happy atmosphere shifted to a darker mood. Now came the hard part. Because of legal complications, Jacob and Nessie would have to give up their baby. Luckily, Carlisle had found some old patients who'd be willing to take her in. They ran a foster home, and had plenty of experience with children.

Nessie sobbed as she handed the sleeping bundle to her grandfather. "Don't worry," he assured her, "She'll be going to a good home. These clients of mine will take great care of her until they find her a permanent family."

"I know." Nessie leaned her head on Jacob's shoulder. "I just wish it didn't have to be this way."

"We all do." But we've done everything we can to ensure she gets a good life."

* * *

I was fifteen years old when I first witnessed this scene and understood what was going on, through my mother's gift. It shocked and saddened me, but also brought me the great joy of knowing who I was and where I came from. All those years of noticing my strange abilities, the insecurities, the doubt; they were all blown away.

Even though I was sent to live with a normal family with no connection to the supernatural world whatsoever, I was eventually drawn back in by pure chance. I found family, I found terror and conspiracy, I almost lost my dearest friend in more ways than one, but I found love in the end, and now I have an endless future waiting for me, full of who knows what, but I'm ready for it. However, perhaps I should begin at the beginning. Okay, so my birth was technically my beginning, but the day that changed my life forever would be a good place to start.

This is a fantastic, unreal story of the supernatural world colliding with one of supposed normalcy; of desire and self-questioning; and of a family that can never be separated by any mortal means. As impossible it may seem, it all happened. It is one hundred percent true. Believe me if you wish, and even if you don't it doesn't matter. I'm here to tell it, ant that's all that counts.

This is my story.

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**Prologue**

**Okay, just so you know, there will never be any specifications on the 'legal complications'. If the baby got to stay with her parents, this story just wouldn't happen, so deal with it. Read and Review, please! **


	2. Fifteen Years Later

**Alright, sorry this took so long. For the record, if you're in the IB (International Baccalaureate) program at school, BEWARE THE EXTENDED ESSAY! I spent forever trying to get it done, and guess what – it's still not done! Luckily it's not due till March or something, but still!**

**Anyway, so here's the first real chapter of 'Miriam', although it is the shortest one besides the prologue and epilogue.**

**I'm dedicating this fic to Vanessa, my best friend in Grade Six (obviously I'm not going to put her full name on the internet). We only had one year together since her dad's in the military and they move all over the country. But I was also going through a hard time with bullies that year, and she was totally by my side. Miriam's best friend Elsie is designed off of her, although we never had any issues like they will in chapter three. Ack! I'm giving away spoilers! No more! Anyway, Elsie's full name is Elsie Vanessa O'Laskey, and Miriam's middle name, Sophia, is after her younger sister.**

**DISCLAIMER: All I own at this point is as follows – Miriam, Elsie, Ms. Baird, Mackenzie, Glenn, Cammie, and Adele. All else belongs to the amazing Stephanie Meyer.**

* * *

"You can try to fake a left and you can try to fake a right, but Cougars came to win and we will fight fight fight fight FIGHT!"

Despite the fact that I was still in the parking lot, I could hear the cheerleaders in the gym perfectly. I switched off the sports car's engine and stepped out. Luckily Golden Creek had weather patterns very similar to Forks, and the sky was grey and overcast, just the way I liked it.

A few students stopped and started at me and my car as they arrived at school, but I ignored them and continued to the front doors. I made my way through the throng of teenagers to the main office. The secretary, a woman with short silvery hair and a nameplate that read 'Patricia Baird', almost dropped her stack of papers as she looked up. "Oh, hello, sir." She greeted me, not taking her eyes off my face, "Are you a new student here?"

"Actually," I corrected her, "I'm the new guidance councillor, Jasper Hale." I pulled my papers – courtesy of J Jenks – from the leather briefcase Alice had picked out for me, and held them out to her. She took them with trembling hands. After looking them over, Ms. Baird stood.

"Very well, Mr. Hale. As you're a new staff member, I'll give you a quick tour of the school first, and then I'll show you to your office." She led me back out to the hallway. Most of the students had retreated to their first period classes, so the corridor was virtually empty. "So, the school is pretty much shaped like a sort of square horseshoe with three floors. The library's over there on the right wing on the third floor, and the cafeteria's a little further down the same way here on the second. The staff lounge and bathrooms are upstairs on the left. Now, right here is the gym." I took a peek and saw the ten cheerleaders I'd heard earlier in the middle of forming a four-storey pyramid. A girl with dark brown curls balanced easily at the top, while the other girls looked rather shaky in comparison.

"That's Miriam Darville," Ms. Baird explained, "Captain of the cheerleading squad, honour roll student, and probably your most frequent visitor."

I glanced at the girl again. "Really?"

"Mm-hm. She's a talented athlete, and very sweet, but some of the things she's able to do are almost inhuman. The other girls gossip behind her back, calling her a freak. Elsie O'Laskey – that's the blonde on the third row – is the only one who doesn't take part in that. She and Miriam have been practically joined at the hip since preschool, according to what I've heard."

"Well, it's a good thing she has someone to help her through it. High school girls can be pretty vicious."

"Yeah, you'll have your hands full. You are aware that the previous guidance councillor quit due to all the stress she got from working with these kids?"

"Oh, I'm sure I can handle whatever they've got to throw at me."

"Speaking of which, you might want to be on your guard with Mackenzie Cahill. He tends to lob whatever he can get his hands up when he's upset."

"I'll be fine. Trust me; I know how to calm the craziest, wildest people."

She arched her eyebrows. "If you say so. Anyway…" She pointed down the right hallway. "Your office is right next to the cafeteria. It's pretty hard to miss. Just look for the door with the happy-faced suns painted on it." I arched my eyebrow like she had moments ago. "It's been that way for ten years, since this place used to include a daycare for teachers' and young student mothers' kids, and we just don't have enough on the budget to change it. Just wait until you see the room itself" She shuddered.

"You know, my foster mother is an interior designer and decorator. She would love to do the job for free."

"Foster mother, you say? There's actually a family of foster kids in town, including Miriam. I'm sure she'll be more comfortable talking to someone who understands her situation a little bit better. Her brother Glenn won't talk to the one in his middle school at all. Know if any family members of yours might be available to help?"

I shook my head. "Nah, my twin sister Rosalie is actually into mechanics, Emmett's in construction and on his days off he's usually either helping or bothering her while she works – it's kind of hard to tell. And all the others are starting here as students tomorrow."

"Oh, well. Guess you can't get too lucky. Well, I'd better get back to my desk, so good luck." She turned and went back into the office.

"Ah-CHOO!" I glanced back into the gym at the sound. The pyramid of cheerleaders was swaying precariously. One girl lost her grip on the bottom of another girl's foot. Instantly, their formation crumbled. The girl on top, Miriam Darville, was falling headfirst towards to floor. I hurried over, being careful to limit myself to top human speed.

But before I could reach her, the girl flipped herself over and landed easily on her feet with the grace of a vampire (and I should know). The other cheerleaders all fell in a huge heap. "Adele!" a bleached-blonde girl accused another, "That was all your fault! I almost broke a nail!"

"I'm sorry, Cammie!" a voice apologized from somewhere in the pile.

Cammie disentangled herself from the other eight people on the floor, whip out a mirror from thin air, and began critically examining herself. "Whatever," she snapped.

"Is everyone all right?" I asked, finally reaching the girls.

A chorus of 'yeah's and 'we're fine's came up from the human knot. Miriam hurried over and helped up a girl with straight dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. I realized it was the other girl Ms. Baird had pointed out, Elsie O'Laskey – Miriam's only friend on the squad.

"Nice landing, as usual," Elsie commented.

"Hey, Freak," Cammie called to Miriam, "You mind not terrifying the audience in the competition Friday? They might accuse us of using genetic mutation to cheat."

Miriam tossed a disturbingly familiar death glare at Cammie, but I could feel the emotional pain she was feeling.

Cammie turned her attention to me. "So, who are you? A new student?" She hurried over and latched onto my arm. "I can show you around, if you'd like. My name's Cammie, by the way."

I could smell her human scent, just barely masked by all the disgusting perfume. I pulled myself free and moved a few steps away. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to start my first day on the job by losing control and attacking the girl. No matter how much of a bitch she was being.

I registered the surprise radiating from her as I easily resisted her 'charm'. If the guys in this school actually fell for that, then the human race was in trouble. "Actually, I corrected her, "I'm the new guidance councillor, Mr. Hale."

"Guidance councillor? Wow. You look like you should be in college, at the oldest." The lust around her amped up. Great. Too bad Alice would be attending as a student, so we'd have to keep our relationship a secret.

"You know, the last one ran out screaming," a redheaded cheerleader commented, staggering to her feet, "Some of the kids are just…" She twirled her fingers around her head. "Wacky. Total psychos."

"We'll see about that," I challenged, heading back towards the doors. I didn't like the emotional climate that'd crept up once Cammie had made her lovely comments about Miriam. Negative energies like that just bug me. The cheerleaders' emotions ranged from amused to regretful. I'd also felt some shock and a minute amount of terror from Miriam when she first looked at me. I wondered why that was.

* * *

It was near the end of third period, right before lunch, when I got the first knock on my office door.

Like the secretary had said, the room was far worse compared to the door. The walls were painted a disturbingly bright orange, splashed with more smiling suns. All the furniture was fuzzy and rainbow-coloured, and annoyingly cheerful music played in the background. After just one minute of it, I'd launched a one-man search party to find its source. Within almost no time at all, I'd located the speaker behind a bookshelf and promptly demolished it. Trust me, that crap melody is worse when you have enhanced hearing, and brightness of the room's colours were starting to give me a headache. And I was sure vampires didn't **get** headaches!

After that torment was over, I looked through some of the files left behind by my predecessor. 'Darville, Miriam Sophia', a freshman, had been adopted when she was two years old by a Sean and Dana Darville, and had four younger adoptive siblings: Glenn, age twelve, Brooke (eight), and Wallace/Wally and Dustin (four). She'd visited the councillor's office a number of times due to being distraught from teasing behind her back. Besides that, she was an honour role student and an active participant in school events, with no major black marks on her record.

Her best friend 'O'Laskey, Elsie Vanessa', had been in a couple times around the beginning of the school year, when her grandmother had passed away. She was an only child and had top marks in every class except Gym. Apparently the teacher valued brute strength over flexibility.

I heard them coming long before they reached my door. A girl was quietly sobbing while another, whose voice I recognized as Elsie O'Laskey's, murmured words of comfort to her. "You've got to stop listening to that bitch and taking what she says so seriously, okay?" she gently insisted, "She's just jealous because you're a better athlete than she is."

I waited until they actually knocked before I got up and walked at an annoyingly slow human pace to the door. When I opened it, I saw Elsie standing there, one arm around a tearful Miriam. "Hey, what happened?"

"Cammie Earhardt happened. Again." Gently, she guided Miriam into one of the fluffy chairs before sitting in the one next to it. "This time, she was commenting on that landing from earlier this morning."

"She keeps saying that I'm a freak, not even human," Miriam choked, "And sometimes, I think she's right." I registered Elsie's surprise at that last statement. Frankly, I wasn't all that shocked. If this had been going on as long as her file said, of course the girl would being to believe such things. I felt the distress coming from her, and sent out a few waves of calm to get her relaxed. "I… I can do things that don't seem humanly possible. I see things better, I hear stuff no one else can, I'm faster and stronger, and I swear I can recognize someone by their scent! Does that sound human to you?"

I chewed on my lower lip as I considered this new information. Enhanced sight, hearing, sense of smell, reflexes, speed, and strength?

"An no one else has noticed your…" she trailed off, staring at her hands.

"My what?" I asked, intrigued.

"Scars. I mean, what happened to you?" Elsie stared at her like she'd gone crazy.

I gripped the pen I'd been playing with when the girls came in. The delicate writing instrument snapped in my fingers, spurting blue ink all over the desk and my hand. The girls jumped in their chairs, startled. Miriam shrank back a little. I knew now why she'd first been scared when she'd looked at me in the gym. But only vampires, hybrids, and the wolves could see the marks of my old life. How was it that she could?

A wild, impossible idea came to me. No way…

The bell rang, signalling the end of third period and the start of lunch. "Why don't we continue this after school?" I suggested, "You two should get something to eat." Quickly, I rushed them out of my office. Before I closed the door, I took a better look at Miriam's eyes. They were brown. A very familiar chocolate brown, to be exact. How did I not realize it before?

Less than a second after the door clicked shut, I'd pulled out my cell phone and dialled Carlisle's number. "Carlisle. It's Jasper. You're not going to believe this, but…"

After filling him in, I called Jacob. "Get yourself and your pack down to the school. **Now**."

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**Okay, free brownies to anyone who can guess what Jasper just did! Plus, Read and Review! And take a guess while you're at it!**


	3. Getting In Touch With Your True Nature

**And now things are getting interesting! Most of the story from here on is going to be Miriam's POV, but Seth gets a few moments here and there as well. So far I haven't gotten a lot of reviews, but it's really early in the fic, so I'm hoping to get more (hint hint).**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight. Wish I did, but I don't.**

**CLAIMER: I own Miriam, Elsie, and Mackenzie.**

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Lunch and fourth period went by at a snail's pace, and fifth period was even slower. I kept glancing at the clock every minute or so, completely ignoring Mr. Gaines' math lesson going on up front. Elsie was almost as anxious; she kept looking at her watch and tapping her pen impatiently on her desk.

I always looked forward to the end of the school day – really, who doesn't? – but never as much as this. Mr. Hale seemed to know something about me that I didn't, so naturally I was **dying** to find out. On the other hand, I was also dreading going to his office. Part of me was terrified of that man, especially after he just shattered that pen with his bare hands. And those scars... What the hell had happened to him? It'd looked like he'd been bitten hundreds of times over and over again, especially around the face and neck. I couldn't believe he'd lived through that. What fate awaited Elsie and I when we went to see him after class?

Ages later, the bell finally rang. Elsie and I quickly gathered our books and, instead of heading to our lockers, took off for Mr. Hale's office.

His door was shut, so we stood outside awkwardly, wondering if we should knock. A minute later, it opened, and Mackenzie Cahill stepped out. Both of us took a cautious three big steps backwards, as he was known for being in a constant bad mood that 'therapy' only worsened. Shockingly, he was calm. Serene, even. The small, relaxed smile on his face seemed out of place, completely alien. He turned to look over his shoulder and back into the office. "Thanks, Mr. Hale," he said calmly, "That talked really helped." He edged past us politely and made his way down the hallway, humming to himself.

"What **happened** to him?" Elsie whispered, "Man, that Mr. Hale is **good**!"

"Thank you." Mr. Hale appeared at the door, startling us. "I was worried you'd be too nervous to show up, Miriam."

I gulped. "How'd you figure that?"

He smiled wryly. "Let's just say I have a certain... talent for picking up on things like that. That's why I decided to go into this line of work."

"Oh... Okay. What do you want to talk to me about?"

First, I need to be sure of a hunch I've got. Earlier you said that you didn't think you were completely human. If I'm wrong, then I can't help you, but if I'm right, and I'm sure I am, then I know exactly who you are. First things first, I need you to answer a simple question: you are adopted, correct?"

I was surprised by such a random question. "Yeah, Andrew and Catherine Darville adopted me when I was five."

"And you don't know anything about your birth parents?"

"No, the foster parents I first had just said that a doctor they knew wanted me to go with them. I don't know if he was a father or a family friend. What does this have to do anything, though?"

"Trust me, it's important. We need to go into the woods to prove my theory, though."

"Why?" Elsie asked somewhat suspiciously.

"A test. Come on." He shut his door behind him and nodded toward the rarely-used side exit. No one was in the hallway now, so nobody saw the three of us leave and head into the forest by the football field.

I shifted by bag from my shoulder to my hand, ready to swing it at Mr. Hale if he tried anything. Why else would a young male teacher take a couple female students into the woods, where no one could hear they screams? _'This is suicidal, Miriam,'_ a voice in the back of my head warned, _'Turn around and run, scream, do __**something**__!'_

'_But he might know something about who – or what – you are,'_ another one argued, _'You have to find out!'_

'_No, it's way too sketchy. Get out of here while you still can!'_

'_Oh, shut up, you! Look, Miriam, you probably won't get another chance! Go for it!'_

I tuned out the voices as Mr. Hale, Elsie, and I stopped suddenly. They were as annoying as the angels and devils that appeared on people's shoulders in cartoons. Even more so, because I wasn't sure which one was the angel and which was the devil.

Mr. Hale picked up a random t-shirt that had been lying on the ground, holding it with just the tips of one finger and thumb. "Close your eyes," he instructed me.

"What?"

"Please, trust me. Just close your eyes." I huffed and did so. "Now, what do you hear?"

I focused, humouring him. I could hear the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees and scattering the remaining snow, running water in Bear's Creek not too far away, the rumble of car engines as they left the school parking lot, and... heartbeats. I counted two of them close by. One was my own, and the other had to be Elsie's, given that it came from right beside me.

But when I listened for Mr. Hale's heart, I couldn't find it.

"Two heartbeats," I murmured, "But I can't hear yours. It's like you're not even there."

"I thought so. Now, what do you smell?"

I cracked one eye open. "Huh? How's this proving anything?"

"Just focus. Focus on all the scents around you."

I did so, not sure exactly what kind of weird game he was playing at. Plenty different aromas surrounded me. The first I picked out was tobacco smoke. There were a few smoking areas around the school. Then I recognized the odour of Elsie's lavender body lotion, and a sweeter one from Mr. Hale, as well as a slightly musky smell coming from the shirt.

"Alright, now. This shirt belongs to one of my friends, and he's somewhere in this forest. Try to find him only using the scent from this." Even though I still had my eyes closed, I could hear him tossing it to me, and I caught it easily.

I held the shirt to my nose and inhaled, absorbing the scent. It was rather nice when I thought about it. Slowly opening my eyes, I looked around, breathing deeply. I could smell every separate odour around me, now that I was focused on the task. Several trails crisscrossed the forest floor, some of them animals, and some of them more... human-like. Ignoring the fact that I had no clue **how** exactly I knew that, I searched for a scent that matched the shirt.

Now, you're probably wondering why the hell I was actually going along with this, when just a minute earlier I'd been fully prepared to smack Mr. Hale with my backpack and make a run for it. But... it's hard to explain. I just felt this drive to follow the trail, like meditating on my sense of smell and hearing had awoken the tracker in me. But go ahead, you can still think I was nuts.

Many similar, musky odours had once grouped around the spot where the t-shirt had been abandoned. They'd arrived together, then split off in different directions. I identified four different sources, one of them matching the shirt. It led deeper into the woods, but I followed it anyway. Elsie and Mr. Hale hurried behind me. Well, maybe not 'hurried'. Elsie may have been struggling to keep up, but Mr. Hale moved along with ease. I could tell from what I heard in their footsteps behind me.

I continued to follow the invisible trail. Occasionally, the other scents crossed over it, but I kept my focus. I almost lost my concentration, however, when I heard a new heartbeat about twenty yards away. I looked up to see a dark-haired, tan-skinned young man leaning casually against a tree. He was barefoot, wearing only a ragged pair of cut-off jeans and a worn, brown t-shirt. Elsie gasped when she saw him. "There!" she cried, jogging towards him.

I started after her, but stopped. I was directly downwind from him now, and I could smell him clearly. "No," I stated, "It's not him. Besides, he's still got his shirt. And here I thought **you** were the smart one." She glared at me.

Mr. Hale chuckled slightly. "Nice try, Embry," he said, "Come on, let's see if she can find the kid, too."

Grinning, 'Embry' loped over. I realized when he got closer that he was **really** tall. Seriously, Mr. Hale was no shorty, and this guy was a head or two taller than him! Once Elsie realized this, she scurried over to me. "Maybe we should make a run for it," she whispered, "Before more come and we're outnumbered!"

I shook my head. "I don't think they're going to hurt us." With that, I found the trail again and continued following it until it led to the base of a very tall tree with lots of thick branches. Even though the new spring leaves hadn't fully grown in yet, it was impossible to see the sky between the giant limbs, except maybe for a small crack here or there.

Mr. Hale released an exasperated sigh. "I told him not to do that," he groaned. He shouted up into the treetops. "Seth!" It wasn't like he was shouting, really. He barely even raised his voice. "I explicitly remember saying you had to stay out of the trees!"

"I got bored!" another voice called down. I felt my heart jump a little at the sound, although I had no clue why. "Why can't she just come up here?"

"Come on, Seth!" Embry added, "I think we've proven Jazz's theory!"

I consider sitting and listening to them arguing with the guy and waiting for him to come down. But as entertaining as that might be, I had to be home by three to let Brooke into the house and pick the twins up from daycare. I didn't have all day. Bending my knees, I leapt up to catch the lowest branch, about five feet above my head. It zoomed easily into my grasp, and I started climbing up.

And up...

And up...

Until I was nose-to-nose with the hottest guy I'd ever seen. He had the same hair colour and skin tone as Embry, and glittering black eyes. He was barefoot, too, and didn't have a shirt, revealing a circular tribal-design tattoo on his left shoulder. "Hi," he greeted me. The sound of his voice up close made me breathless.

"Hi," I gasped back, "I guess you're Seth, right?" I couldn't stop staring into his eyes. They were so warm, so full of life.

"Seth, get down here!" Mr. Hale's voice rudely interrupted us. "Miriam, there's someone here I'd like you to meet!" I sighed and broke my gaze with Seth. I clambered down a few feet before dropping down the rest of the way. I landed with surprising ease, and Seth came down right beside me in the same manner.

Two other guys had shown up. Like Seth and Embry, they all had deeply tanned skin, black hair, and black eyes, and were **very** tall and well-muscled.

One of them, the biggest one, looked strangely familiar to me. "Miriam, I'd like to introduce you to Jacob Black, Quil Ateara, Embry Call, and Seth Clearwater. They're close friends."

"Hi," I greeted them shyly.

"Earlier today, you said you weren't sure if you were completely human. You were right, and I know what you are."

I swallowed hard. Remembering that brought my good mood right back down. "So what is it?"

Mr. Hale smiled. "I know this is going to sound crazy, but you are one-quarter human, one-quarter vampire, and half shapeshifter."

...

"What?"

"Your parents are very close friends of mine. In fact, Jacob here is your dad."

I stared at the man he'd referred to as Jacob Black. He had to be in his mid to late twenties! That would put him at around ten years old when I was born. It was impossible that he could be my father. Older brother, maybe, but definitely not my father.

"Don't let their appearances fool you," Mr. Hale continued, "These guys haven't aged in about twenty-five years. The same goes for your mother; she aged very fast for seven years and then stopped around the physical age of seventeen. It's because she's half vampire. Her mother was human when she gave birth, but now she's a vampire, too."

It was insane, implausible, and unbelievable, but I couldn't help but think that it was all real. "Explain it a bit more," I insisted.

"You actually believe this?" Elsie asked incredulously, "This is like something out of a fantasy book!"

"I know, but I can't help it. It feels like I've known this my whole life." I turned back to Mr. Hale. "But how are **you** involved in all this?"

"Your maternal grandfather is my brother of sorts. We're part of a vegetarian vampire coven, meaning that we live off the blood of animals, not humans. Your mother, Nessie, is a vampire-human hybrid, and she married Jacob. Ten years after she was born, they had you, but couldn't keep you. I couldn't believe it when I put two and two together and realized you were their lost daughter. If you'd like, I can take you to meet your mom and the rest of your family."

My family? "Yes please!" I blurted out those words the second I found my voice.

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**And so it really begins...**

**I'd love to hear your comments and concerns, people! Nothing pleases the writer in me better than knowing that her stuff is appreciated.**


	4. Vampire Family Reunion

**Alright, here's the long-awaited chapter three! Okay, have you guys noticed that I start my A/Ns the same way? Let me know if I do it again with the next chapter. A virtual light smack on the back of the head would work, too.**

**So, just to keep things clear: It's been twenty-five years since Breaking Dawn. Jacob, Seth, Quil, and Embry now travel with the Cullens, and pretend to be adopted kids as well. Leah's stopped phasing and has pursued a human life, and has gotten married. Sam and the other pack stay in La Push, but keep in contact. Also, Jasper has gotten much better at his control, allowing him to be alone in a room with a human and not have to worry about going nuts.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the amazing Twilight Saga. That belongs to the genius Stephanie Meyer.**

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The house was huge. And I mean **huge**. I couldn't stop staring at it once I saw it from Mr Hale's – no, Jasper's car. It was built out of reddish brown brick, kinda like the colour of dried blood – now that's an ironic comparison right there – and was three stories high. The front double doors were surrounded by an archaic-looking frame that I realised was made out of granite when I got out and walked up. The windows were about as tall as I was, and the covered the building so much that the exterior wall was made more of glass than brick or wood.

"Wow," Elsie commented, "It looks like something out of a fantasy novel. Just like everything else that's happened today. I'm still waiting for a catch."

Quil tugged at the heavy-looking brass doorknob and pulled it open easily. The door itself looked to weight about two hundred pounds, but the werewolf had no trouble moving it aside. Embry followed in behind him, and both of them rushed off inside. I could smell some sort of meat cooking in there, and guessed they were hungry.

Elsie and I hesitated before going in. I had **never** been in a house this massive, and I kind of felt a little unwelcome. Jasper rested a very cold hand on my shoulder. Instantly, I felt a rush of calm run over me. I wasn't until then that I realised I'd had my fists clenched into tiny white-knuckled balled. Gingerly, I stepped in further, taking a better look around.

I'd seen a few vampire movies before, so when I stepped into the house, images of dark, dusty crypts filled with coffins and tombstones and gothic paintings were dancing around in my head. But instead, all I saw was a nice, well-lit room with marble flooring, a couple side tables holding beautiful flowers in intricately carved glass vases, a sweeping staircase, and a beautiful crystal chandelier hanging overhead. It looked like a pretty fancy, modern room, really.

"Nice, huh?" Jasper asked, "Your great-grandmother, my foster mom, renovated this whole place, with help from my sister Rosalie and my wife Alice. I've **got** to get her to redo my office."

"It's not that bad, is it?" Jacob asked. I should mention that he never strayed two feet away from me since we met, but I hadn't spoken to him yet. Seth had remained close as well, getting a few minor dirty looks from Jacob, for some reason.

"Three words, mutt: happy-faced suns." Jacob grimaced.

I heard them before they came down. Several footsteps, and then suddenly a whole bunch of people were there. I counted twelve of us altogether. Good thing it was a **big** room.

"Jazz, is this her?" a tiny dark-haired girl asked, "Is it really her?" At Jasper's nod, she squealed and hugged me. It felt like I was being embraced by a moving stone statue. Her entire body was as hard and cold as icy rock, and she was a hell of a lot stronger than I could've imagined, especially considering her size. The girl eventually backed off and looked me over, her bright gold eyes mainly focusing on my face. "You look so much like your mom. Doesn't she, Rosalie?" A blonde with dark eyes nodded stiffly.

A teenager with bronze-coloured curls and brown eyes stepped forward. I realised right away who she was. "Mom?" I whispered. She sniffed and nodded, smiling happily. We stood there like a pair of statues ourselves for a second, then closed the gap between up and collapsed into a hug. I couldn't stop the tears once they started forming. My mom was here. After all those years, I'd finally found her. The dark-haired girl was right; we looked so much alike, especially our eyes. We both had the same shape and coloured eyes. I also seemed to have inherited her hair type, only mine was several shades darker.

Jacob quickly joined our hug, and at that moment, I couldn't have felt any happier. I had my Mom and my Dad with me.

Then a big, tall, dark-haired boy impulsively ran over and joined us. I looked up at him. What the hell? Who was this guy?

"Emmett," a guy with the same hair colour as Mom asked, "What are you doing? Let them have their moment."

Emmett sheepishly pulled away. "Sorry," he apologized, "They just looked really happy, and I wanna be a part of it."

Mom rolled her eyes. "Uncle Em, really," she laughed, "Can't you just give us a little time alone with our daughter?"

"But you guys aren't even alone! We're all still here. And just because you're her parents doesn't mean you can hog her from the rest of the family."

A girl with dark brown hair approached us. "Emmett's right," she said, "as hard as that is to believe." She held out her arms to me. "Come on over and give your Grandma Bella a hug, already."

I raised my eyebrows. Grandma? She had to be... what, eighteen? Nineteen? Well, Jasper had told me not to judge this group's ages by their appearance. So I took it all in stride, ran over, and hugged Grandma Bella tightly. The guy who'd spoken to Emmett earlier joined us. He looked a lot like Mom, so I assumed he was my grandfather. What had Jasper said his name was? Oh yeah, Edward.

Just then, Quil and Embry came back from what I guessed was the kitchen, both carrying a hotdog in each hand and two sticking out of their mouths. "Do you have to be such pigs?" The blonde – Rosalie – snapped.

Quil swallowed both of his hotdogs in one go. "Someone's cranky," he commented.

"No, I'm just thirsty. I haven't gone hunting for a few days, all right?"

"Thirsty?" Elsie repeated, taking a few steps back, "Like... for blood?" Her hands shot up to guard her throat.

Jasper chuckled. "Relax. I told you, we're **vegetarian** vampires. We don't drink human blood. Edward's the only one who's had **any** in the past fifty years, and that was an emergency."

I looked up and Grandpa for an explanation, but it was Grandma who responded. "It happened while I was still human," she said, "A vampire named James had bitten me, and Edward wasn't on board with changing me just yet, so he sucked the venom out of my blood. Of course, it only really delayed the inevitable."

"Yeah, but you did taste good," Grandpa commented.

A woman with caramel-coloured hair laughed. "Enough of that," she chided, "The poor girl looks like she's about to faint1"

For the first time, the other vampires seemed to take notice of my best friend. The small girl smiled sweetly and darted over to stand in front of her. "I'm Alice," she greeted, giving Elsie a quick hug, "Miriam's great-aunt of sorts."

Elsie just looked around at all of them, looking mildly terrified. "Hi," she replied in a shaky voice that was barely above a whisper, "Umm... I'm Elsie O'Laskey... Miriam's best friend." The vampires all said hi to her, then Rosalie took Emmett's hand and they ran out the door at an amazing speed.

"So, to finish off the introductions," the caramel-haired lady continued, "I'm Esme, the mother of this whole crazy bunch, and my husband Carlisle's still working at the hospital, but you can meet him once he gets home."

Home. Uh-oh.

"Aw, shit!" I cried, "I was supposed to be home right after school to look after Brooke and the twins!"

"And I've got a study date with Anthony Hammond at five!" Elsie gasped, "I've got to get home, take a shower, finish up my flash cards..."

"I'll give you two a lift back," Jasper offered. Elsie quickly bolted out the door without looking back. I turned back to my family, not really wanting to leave.

"I can come back tomorrow, right?" I asked hopefully.

Esme smiled warmly. "Absolutely. You're always welcome here, and so is Elsie. And anyway, most of our coven will be starting at your school tomorrow, so you'll see them then." I grinned and gave my parents a tight hug each before turning and following Elsie.

* * *

I stood on the sidewalk, breathless, watching Jasper drive away after dropping me and Elsie off in front of my house. "Did that past hour really just happen?" I asked her, feeling giddy.

"I hope not," she replied.

I snapped my head around to stare at her, shocked. "Why not?"

"Uh, hello? We were in a house full of monsters that could've sucked our blood at any time!"

I took offense to that. "Monster? That's my family you're talking about!"

"You actually believe all the bullshit they were saying?" Again, I was surprised. Elsie never swore. "It was obviously just a trick to lure us in! You're not some kind of monster freak, you're a regular human being! They're just spouting that story so that you think you're one of them!"

"Okay, you've been watching **WAAAY** too much TV."

"Well, you know what? If you want to hang around with those... things, then fine! But I'm going back to the world of logic and sense, where we both belong!" She stormed off to her house next door, leaving me in a **very** bad mood.

I watched her go until she was inside, then I felt the hot tears beginning to form. I rushed into my own house, only to be greeted my a very angry Maman.

My adopted parents, Sean and Dana Darville, speak more French than English, since Maman is from Québec, and Papa is French on his mother's side. We tend to speak French in the house.

"Où étais-tu?" (Where have you been?) Maman demanded, "Brooke et les jumeaux ont eu besoin à me téléphoner de chez O'Laskey parce que tu n'es jamais arrivée!" (Brooke and the twins had to call me from the O'Laskeys' house because you never showed up!)

I knew I was in super-big trouble, but I pushed past Maman and went straight to my room. I locked the door behind me and threw myself on the bed. Only then did I really start to cry.

* * *

**The main reason I have Miriam knowing French is just because I've been studying it since I was eight, and I wanna show off what I know. Someday, I hope I'll be able to do the same thing in Japanese. I'm going for that as my third language. I watch a hell of a lot of Super Sentai (the original Japanese version of Power Rangers), so I'm now fascinated with the language. I know a handful of random words, but pretty much no grammar rules and not a lot of words that are actually used in a normal conversation.**

**Anyway, keep an eye out for the next chapter: The Cullens and vampires go to school, and Miriam confronts Elsie. Until then, R&R!**


	5. World Turned Upside Down

**Well, hello everybody! SeaSpectre 160's back and ready to rock, and as a treat for you guys, I'm posting this a day early! My IB exams are done (and I think I did great on some subjects, especially math) and now I just have one EASY class for the rest of the year. So anyway, sorry to all my faithful readers who've had to wait for so long, but here it is! This is almost like a birthday present for me, being able to post again, because it's my birthday this Sunday! And no, I'm not telling nobody how old I am! You can never tell who someone is on the 'net.**

**Just to recap, Miriam is Jake and Nessie's 15-year-old daughter they've just been reunited with, but her best friend Elsie doesn't trust them.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight. Stephanie Meyer does. However, I own Miriam, Elsie, and my minor OCs.**

* * *

The next morning, I woke up, got breakfast, and was promptly informed that I was grounded for a week. My brain was still half-asleep, so I was confused as to **why** I was grounded. Then I headed out the door to go to school and saw that Elsie wasn't waiting there for me like she usually did.

Then I remembered.

I set off towards the school with a purpose. I had to talk to Jasper, and tell him what had happened between me and Elsie. Not only was he family, but wasn't it his job to help me with this stuff, anyway? And Great-Grandma Esme had said that a lot of the others would be at school, too. I hoped that included Mom and Dad. And, for some reason, I found myself wondering if Seth would be there, too.

Sadly, I didn't get an opportunity to go see Jasper all morning. There was no time between classes, and since Cammie Earhardt just so happened to be home sick that day, I had no excuse to break down crying and be sent there - at least, no excuse that I could use without revealing that my parents were and werewolf and half-vampire.

But on the positive side, Alice was in my math class. It was a **huge** relief to walk into Mr. Gaines' room and see her smiling and waving at me. I skirted past Elsie and her suspicious glare and sat down next to my immortal great-aunt. She told me to just call her Alice, though. We chatted quietly for the entire hour; since both of us had better hearing than humans, we could hold a conversation without the teacher noticing. I told her about my fight with Elsie, and she immediately agreed that we had to talk about it as a family. She scrunched up her face in concentration for a second, then explained to me that she was sending the thought out to Grandpa, so that he could tell the rest of the family to meet us there.

That threw me for a bit, until Alice explained how some vampires had special gifts, aside from the speed, strength, senses, and general invincibility. I **really** liked her gift, being able to see the future, but she said it actually drove her crazy sometimes. Apparently, she could only see vampires' and, to a lesser extent, humans' futures. She said it was most likely because she **was** a vampire and **had been** a human. Other creatures, such as Dad and the shifters or hybrids like me and Mom, weren't within her sight because she'd never been those. That was why she hadn't expected Jasper to find me yesterday.

The bell for lunch rang eventually. Immediately, Alice and I gathered our stuff and headed for Jasper's office. Mom, Dad, and Seth - who were posing as sophomores - met up with us in the hall, and Mom flitted to my side right away. "Hey, honey," she greeted me.

"Remember, we're not supposed to know her yet," Dad reminded her gently.

"Oh, right." Mom reluctantly moved away, but never strayed any farther than a foot from me.

I smiled at Seth and my parents. "How're you liking Riverston High so far?" I asked.

Dad grinned. "I've got the two most important girls in my life here. So far, I'd say it's pretty much paradise."

"Lucky you," Embry commented as he and Quil joined us, with Grandma and Grandpa right behind them, "That Mrs. Khayman's evil! I'm telling you; first day here, and already a teacher's out to get me!"

"Well, you know what they say," Quil replied, "Once a delinquent, always a delinquent."

I shot a questioning look at them. "Embry's mom never knew he was a shifter," Grandpa explained, He'd have to sneak out of the house every night for patrols, and needless to say, that didn't sit too well with her."

I laughed as Embry moaned and rubbed his forehead in embarrassment. Well, I think Maman is going to be just like that. She's pretty pissed that I didn't come home right after school. Should I tell her about this?"

Dad chewed on his lower lip. "Not a good idea, at least for now. Maybe if she starts getting really suspicious. Humans aren't supposed to know that vampires really exist. We shifters were only spared because we're just as much a part of the mystical world as they are."

And the Volturi didn't want to look bad in front of their witnesses by attacking us unprovoked," Seth stated, "They're just waiting for us to screw up so they'll have an excuse to wipe us out."

"The Volturi?" I scrunched my face up in thought. I knew Alice had mentioned them less than an hour ago... "Oh! They're like the vampire royalty, right?"

"Sort of," Grandma replied, "They're the most powerful coven in the world. We're the only ones who could rival them, so they're paranoid that we might try to take over."

We reached Jasper's office and just walked right in. "Hey," he greeted us, "How's your first day, guys?"

"My English teacher hates me," Embry stated, flopping down into one of the fuzzy chairs, "She's gonna have it out for me all year, I just know it."

"Well, we've got bigger problem than that," Alice interrupted, "Miriam?"

I sighed. "Elsie's completely freaked out. She's positive you guys are just waiting for me to let my guard down so you can suck my blood."

Jasper looked grim. "That **is** a big problem," he said, "Humans aren't supposed to know about us. It's only because she's your best friend that I allowed he to come with us. But if she's scared of us, she might cause trouble. She could call the police, expose us, stir up panic..."

"And then the Volturi would come," Grandpa continued, "They'd kill her, and no doubt they'd try to get you."

"Me?" I gulped.

One of their leaders, Aro, is a collector. When he sees a vampire with a talent that could potentially be useful, he'll try to bring them over to join his ranks. The more rare and unique, the better. He's already got his eyes set on me, Alice, your grandma, and your mom. Hell, he's even interested in having the wolves as 'guard dogs'."

"I'd gladly show him a guard dog," Quil muttered.

"You're half shifter, one-quarter vampire, and only one-quarter human. You're one of a kind, exactly what Aro would want to add to his collection."

"If he even **tries** to get his hands on her," Dad declared, "I'll rip him to pieces and burn the remains."

Isn't that a little excessive?" I asked.

"Not really. It's pretty much the only way you can kill a vampire."

"Oh."

"The point is, we need to do something before this gets out of hand," Grandma insisted, "Miriam, you need to get through to Elsie, and help her understand."

I nodded. "I know. But Elsie's stubborn; it's almost impossible to change her mind."

"I can help," Grandpa offered, "I can listen to her thoughts and tell her which buttons to push."

I shook my head. "No. She's my best friend, I know her better than everyone else. She won't listen if you're looming over us. I'll take care of this."

Out of the blue, Embry's stomach growled **very** loudly. "Sorry," he apologized, I'm missing lunch."

Grandma laughed, lightening up the mood. "You guys can go eat," she said, "Edward, Alice, and I are going to talk a bit longer."

Embry immediately jumped up and bolted for the door, getting stuck when he and Quil tried to get through at the same time. The others all laughed, but I wasn't completely in the mood. I was still worried about Elsie and the Volturi.

People kept giving us funny looks as we walked down the hall to the cafeteria. Maybe it was because Dad and the guys were so freaking **big**. Mom and I barely came up to their shoulders, and I'm tall for my age. She especially stood out, her pale skin contrasting with their tan. I spotted Elsie by her locker and tried to talk to her, but she gathered up her stuff in a rush and hurried off. Seth patted my shoulder reassuringly, and surprisingly, I did feel a lot better when we made contact.

I blushed. Then I realized: _'Oh my God, am I crushing on a guys more than twice my age? What am I thinking? Okay, so he doesn't _**_look_**_ twice my age. Physically, he's forever a teenager, so it's not that weird. But he's my dad's friend, and friends don't date friends daughters. Ugh, just forget it, Miriam. Put the thought out of your head.'_

I hurried to try and catch up with Elsie, but a big crowd of seniors blocked my way, and I lost her.

Once we got our food and sat down, I learned the hard way not to make Quil laugh with his mouth full. He accidentally sprayed half-chewed spaghetti all over Seth and I. As my fellow cheerleaders pointed and laughed, I flushed red in embarrassment. "Come on," I muttered to Seth, "There's a paper towel dispenser over by the vending machine."

We made our way over there, passing by the football team and Walter Gaylyn. Normally, I'd get all flustered whenever I saw him. After all, he's the star quarterback, pitcher, and striker and the most desired guy in school, and I've been crushing on him since the sixth grade.

So it was a bit surprising how easily I held my composure and kept walking. For some reason, I didn't have the same reaction to his blond hair, blue eyes, and perfect smile. Instead, I was far more interested in watching Seth pick bits of spaghetti off his arms. He had some pretty nice muscles; not scrawny, but not outrageously buff like those bodybuilders on mega steroids. I realized I was starting to think along the lines of crushing on him - again - and I reminded myself that I shouldn't be doing that. So I tore my eyes off his biceps and focused on the paper towel dispenser ahead of me. I didn't even look at him as I cranked some out and started wiping off the soggy noodles and chunks of meat sauce. I felt someone staring at the back of my head, and turned to see Elsie sitting nearby, her eyes riveted on me. She wasn't the only one. Three other girls from the squad, Wanda Johnston, Abby Kleinberg, and Beth Landsdown, were with her, although they had their eyes on Seth. I wanted to tell those vultures to stop staring at him like a piece of meat, but reminded myself that it wasn't any of my business. So what if they liked him? I mean, the age difference would be kind of weird if he started dating any one of them, but it wasn't like they would know that!

Then the annoying voices from yesterday came back, arguing again. _'Your Dad is sixteen years older than your Mom, and Great-Grandpa Carlise is about _**_two hundred_**_ years older than Great-Grandma Esme! The age difference between you and Seth shouldn't matter!'_

_'It _**_does_**_ matter! Seth is closer to your father's age than your own!'_

_'Listen, Miriam, you now know that you're not human, you're part vampire! Age means nothing now!'_

That idea scared me a little. This was the same voice that'd urged me to follow Jasper and led me to my family, but now that its first demand had been appeased, it was asking for even more. Sure, giving in to a crush on a guy didn't seem so sinister, but that voice seemed to be hinting at something else... something darker.

Seth finally noticed the girls were staring at him and gave them an awkward smile and a wave. Wanda, Abby, and Beth giggled like a couple of middle-schoolers. Elsie, on the other hand, gave him a look that was both threatening and fearful.

I sighed. "I'm going to talk to her," I told Seth. He nodded and, deciding he was as cleaned up as he was going to get, tossed his paper towel in the trash can and dug some coins out of his pocket, his eyes set on the jumbo-sized OhHenry! bar in the vending machine.

I walked over to Elsie's table. "We need to talk," I said to her, "In private." Elsie chewed her lower lip, but huffed and stood up.

We walked outside the caf and found an empty classroom. "Okay, what do you want?" she grumbled.

"I need to know you won't do anything stupid."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean going to the police, freaking out, exposing their secret." There was no question as to who 'they' were. "There'll be terrible consequences if people find out."

She narrowed her eyes. "Are you threatening me?"

"No! No, I'm **warning** you. Most vampires aren't as trusting as the Cullens, or as caring about humans. You could be put in a lot of danger if they find out you know about them."

Elsie snorted. "I'm not going to tell anyone. As far as I'm concerned, we're safe as long as we stay out of their world, like it never existed. That's what I'm doing, and I suggest you do the same."

I shook my head. "No way! I know you're a little freaked by this, but I can't just forget about my family after I've finally just met them! You don't get it, Elsie! All my life I've known there was something different about me, like there was something I was missing! And now I think I've found it! I know who - **what** I am now. I can't just pretend that never happened." I stared into her eyes, begging her to understand.

She blinked, then shifted her gaze uncomfortably to her shoes. "How can you be sure it's them?"

"I just am. If you'd taken a closer look at them, you could see how much I look like Jake and Nessie - I mean, Mom and Dad. I trust them, and we all want you to trust them, too."

"I never thought about it like that," she mumbled, "I did it again, didn't I?"

I laughed weakly. Elsie's stubbornness often made it hard to sway her opinion, so she tended to judge a person by their first impression on her. "Kind of, yeah." Hesitantly, I put one arm around her shoulders, relaxing when she didn't shrug me off.

"You'd think I'd learn by now." She turned her head back up to face me. "Do you think they'd give me another chance?"

I grinned at her. "Absolutely. Come on, join us at our table. I just hope the guys haven't stolen my food." We walked back to my family together. Grandma, Grandpa, and Alice had joined them, although they had no food set out in front of them. I noticed that Embry and Quil's plates were already empty, and they would occasionally reach for my half-eaten chickenburger. Luckily, Dad and Seth were shoving their hands away while Grandpa and the girls watched in amusement.

Alice perked up when we approached. "So everything's okay now?" she asked. I grinned and nodded, and she squealed, hugging the two of us. "I am **so** relieved! We were **so** worried about what might happen!" Something told me Alice had been slightly more worried just because she couldn't see how the conversation would turn out.

Elsie looked confused. "Yeah, what exactly **would** happen?" she asked, "Miriam said there would be 'terrible consequences', but she wasn't all that specific."

"We'd get in trouble with the Volturi if they found out you knew about us. They're the royalty and law enforcers of the vampire world. Humans can't know that we really exist. If one finds out, there are only two options: either the human dies, along with the vampire or vampires that slipped up, or they have to be changed. And the Volturi usually choose death."

"Changed? What do you..." Her eyes widened and she gasped as she realized what Alice meant. "And you told me anyway?" Her voice was going squeaky, the way it always did when she got freaked.

"Just relax, okay?" Grandma advised her, As long as they don't know, nothing has to happen. We tend not to have contact with them, and besides, the laws are only in place for our safety; you knowing we exist is no real threat, and most other vampires who might find out usually tend to mind their own business. And if the Volturi do come after you, we **will** protect you."

"All humans in our territory, wherever we live, are off-limits," Grandpa explained, "So are the ones in Forks and La Push, down in Washington. Our treaty with the wolf pack there protects them - along with the actual wolf pack, of course."

Elsie took a deep breath and calmed down a bit. "Okay," she mumbled. I could tell she was still scared, but somehow she managed to smile. "I still feel like I'm going to wake up any second now, but I think I can deal with this."

* * *

"Thanks for the ride, Seth," I said as I climbed out of the passenger seat of his car in front of my house. Elsie was getting out of the back, trying to pull her overstuffed bookbag from where it'd fallen on the floor and gotten stuck between the seats.

"No problem." Seth gave me a grin. "Sorry we got you grounded."

"It's fine, really. This isn't the first time Maman's gotten mad at me."

Why do you call her that?"

"'Maman'?" It's French. Maman's from Québec and Papa's French on his mother's side. We don't speak a whole lot of English in the house. It coming in handy now, though. At least I have a way to refer to both sets of parents."

"Miriam!" Brooke and the twins were standing on the front step. Their bus had already dropped them off, and they were waiting for me to show up with my house key and let them in. "Hurry up!" Brooke insisted, "I've gotta go real bad!"

I fished the key out of my purse. "I'll take care of it," Elsie volunteered, holding her hand out. Feeling extremely happy about it for some reason, I gave her the key, then eagerly turned back to continue talking to Seth.

"So, are those your brothers and sister?" he asked.

"Yep. Well, three out of four. Glenn has band practice. He won't be home 'til five, at least. Wanna come in?"

"I'd like to, but your dad wants me back to run patrols. Most vamps know to stay off our territory, but some need a little persuading. Besides, you'll get in trouble again."

I smacked my forehead. "Oh, right. I forgot. So... I'll see you tomorrow at school?"

"Yeah, see you then." We had a moment of uncomfortable silence fore a few second. "Uh... Okay, 'bye." And then he drove off, leaving me standing there, breathless and somewhat dazed.

* * *

**Alrighty then, that's the end of this chapter! I'll hopefull be back to posting every weekend, so I'll finish this up and start posting my XME fic 'Seether'. And sometime next year (I can't be sure until I figure out how many chapters another fic will have) I'm hoping to get the sequel posted, which will ficus more on Elsie after - oop! Not gonna give it away just yet!**

**So I'll see you guys next week!**


	6. Disaster in Volterra

**RECAP: Miriam met up with Alice, Edward, Bella, Jacob, Nessie, Embry, and Quil at school and learned a lot mot about the vampire world. She managed to convince Elsie not to be scared, too. So now they're okay. But there's still the threat of the Volturi finding out about Miriam's existence...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight, only Miriam, Cammie, Brooke, Elsie's partent, the twins, and Glenn.**

* * *

Three years later…

In the three years that passed after I discovered my unbelievable heritage, my life changed for the better. Elsie and I became inseparable with my family, to the slight confusion of our schoolmates. Nobody could explain or figure out how the new kids had bonded with us so fast.

As far as Maman and Papa were concerned, we were all just friends. They had no clue about the vampires and shifters, let alone the fact that Jacob and Nessie were my biological parents. By then, I had gotten used to calling them by name in public, along with Grandma and Grandpa – I mean, Bella and Edward. Rosalie sometimes baby-sat my younger adoptive siblings, and they adored her, although Brooke was a little scared of Emmett.

By then, everyone but Elsie, Alice, and myself had graduated from high school, while Jasper continued to work there. Cammie Earhardt often went to see him unnecessarily (_cough_desperateslut_cough_), but not nearly as much as Alice. With her gift, she could tell exactly when nobody would be around to catch them making out – Jasper would be **so** fired if someone did. Quil had moved back to his hometown La Push, to live with his imprint, Claire.

Dad had explained imprinting to me. From my understanding, it was a reaction a shifter had when he saw his 'soulmate'. Their hearts were pretty much bound together to the end of time after that. One day I asked him when he'd imprinted on Mom, and apparently it was when she was only a couple minutes old! He'd actually helped deliver the girl he was going to marry! Elsie and I both agreed that that was just weird.

The whole imprinting thing raised a lot of questions for me. I knew the wolf guys didn't age, so what happened when the girl they'd imprinted on got older? Considering Quil's case, Claire was now thirty-one. Then Seth explained that the non-aging thing only happened if they transformed regularly. If not, then they would just continue to get older like everyone else. His older sister, Leah, was still living in La Push, happily married (though not to an imprint) and working as a lawyer, and she definitely looked her age of forty-six.

As for Seth and I… well, things were still **really** awkward. I mean, I could no longer deny that I liked him, and I often dreamt fantasies of him, but after quite a bit of thought on the arguing voices in my head, I came to the likely conclusion that they were my two sides: my humanity and the supernatural creature. While I was glad that I'd given in to the latter at first and trusted Jasper, the demands it made afterwards were somewhat frightening. I'd read 'Lord of the Flies'; if I gave in, I would be in danger of losing my humanity to 'the beast'. Even if it made my human existence harder, I had to stay away from Seth.

Mom, Elsie, and Alice were the only one I confided in about my worries (although I'm pretty sure Jasper and Grandpa had a good sense of them as well). Elsie agreed with me that it was kind of creepy, but said that I should go for him, anyway, and Mom and Alice backed her up. But even with their advice, I still refrained from making any moves.

Instead, I often went out with guys from my own grade. I really wanted a boy who would love me and never hurt me, but in every relationship I had, I just never felt close to the guy. The nice ones usually broke it off gently because they could tell I wasn't really that into them, and the pervs who wanted… other things from me were easy to walk away from, especially with a family of vamps and 'werewolves' to keep the guy from bugging me. Still, it frustrated me beyond belief, and Elsie made it harder by continuously insisting that I should just give it up and go out with Seth. "If anything," she would joke, "He'll be able to defend himself if your Dad gets too overprotective. All those other boys would just be walking pieces of kibble!"

* * *

It was late February, just after my eighteenth birthday, that Elsie told me that her family was going on vacation to Italy for March Break. More specifically, Volterra, home of the Volturi. Her mom wanted to attend the festival celebrating the expulsion of the vampires (if only they knew), and that bothered my vamp/shifter family quite a bit. The Volturi's 'hunting' strategy was to have one vampire give a group of humans a 'guided tour' of their castle, luring the unsuspecting tourists to their deaths. What if Elsie's parents fell for it?

"We can only keep them safe if we stay in town," Great-Grandpa Carlisle stated one day while we were discussing it at their house, "Once they wander out of Riverston or the Forks region, they're fair game for hunting. If we intervene to try and save them, the Volturi will realise something's up. They could find out that Elsie knows all about us, and they could learn about Miriam."

"It's extremely dangerous," Grandpa agreed, "But how are we supposed to tell them that?"

"A few of us could go," Grandma suggested, "And Alice can keep an eye on the Volturi's movements. If their paths cross with the O'Laskeys, she can call, and we can do something."

"Yeah, but like what?" Kate asked. She was from the other vegetarian coven, somewhere up in Alaska, and had come down for a visit with her mate, Garrett.

"I don't know, mess with their car or bus or whatever they're getting around in, cause traffic jams, distractions, anything to keep them off that tour."

"If the Volturi notice our people, they can just say they're there for a visit," Rosalie added, clearly on board with this plan, but not too eager to go as part of the first group, "But they'll have to be very careful about it."

"We can help," Garrett volunteered immediately, "Anything to wipe the smirks off their faces." Emmett grinned and gave him a high-five.

"Okay, we'll go with that," Dad agreed, "It's risky, but it's pretty much the only thing we can do." All the others nodded as well, but I was still unsure. Jasper, Grandpa, Seth, Mom, and Dad all noticed right away.

"Don't worry," Mom assured me, kissing my forehead, "Nothing's going to happen, sweetie. I promise."

I instantly began to relax, although I suspected it was mainly Jasper's doing.

* * *

Elsie trembled as she hugged me goodbye. Despite Grandma, Grandpa, Kate, and Garrett already being in Italy, ready to play secret bodyguard for her family, she was still scared. Looking at her face, though, most people wouldn't be able to tell, maybe not even her own parents. Only Grandpa, Jasper, I would really be able to detect her fear; them because of their powers, and me just because I knew her better than anyone.

"Have fun," I told her, and she grinned at me shakily.

"I'll e-mail you every day," she replied. We hugged one more time before she boarded her plane.

I myself was pretty nervous as I drove home. What if something went wrong? While I had no experience with the Volturi, the others had, and I'd heard the horror stories of those who dared cross the royalty of the vampire world.

Grandpa's precious calssic silver Volvo was parked in my driveway when I got home. That struck me as odd. He was supposed to be in Volterra. Then I figured Dad must've taken it – he and Grandpa tended to 'borrow' each other's rides and stuff, though not necessarily with each other's permission. Grandma said they still didn't quite get along so well, even though the little tension between them was nothing compared to what it had been back when they were both competing for her love – ew.

So when I went inside, I wasn't all that surprised to see Dad watching TV with Brooke and the twins. Well, Brooke was watching TV; Wally had Dustin in a headlock on the floor while Dad was trying to making them stop without having to get up off the couch.

I rolled my eyes, walked over, and knelt beside the boys. "_Un! Deux! Trois!_" (One! Two! Three!) I shouted, hitting the floor rug, "_Wally est le gagneur, le match est fini!_" (Wally's the winner, the match is over!) They immediately separated, knowing that if they delayed by even two seconds, I would pull them apart myself. I may look skinny, but I'm part vampire, for crying out loud! I can beat any human in arm wrestling any day.

"Nice one," Dad commented, "How'd you get 'em to listen like that?"

"Years of practice. Dustin, _arretez_." Dustin had started poking his brother, who was bound to start another fight if that continued. "What's on?"

"Some weird Canadian game show." I looked at the screen and realized Brooke was engrossed in another rerun of 'Uh Oh!', one of Maman's favourite game shows from her childhood. My favourite part was when a contestant answered a trivia question wrong, resulting in the black-leather-masked 'Punisher' getting to drop a bucket of brightly-coloured goo on their partner's head.

I plunked down next to Dad. "Don't knock it. Watching people get slime dumped on their heads is awesome."

"Elsie on her way?"

"Yep. Think she'll be fine?"

Dad glanced over at Brooke, reminding me that I couldn't go into detail around her. The twins had run off into the kitchen, and I really didn't **want** to know what thy were up to, and the sounds of a saxophone and flute coming from upstairs told me that Glenn was practicing with his girlfriend Katrina McMillan. It's Italy; what could happen?" He gave me a one-armed hug.

"WRONG!" Brooke shouted, making us both jump, "It's **counter**-clockwise!" On the TV, the weird host declared the girl's answer to the question (Which way does the water flow when you flash the toilet?) was wrong.

I have absolutely no clue how they managed to sneak up behind us, but when the Punisher poured the yellow-brown slime – an appropriate colour for that question – down the funnel into the Slime Chamber, Wally and Dustin popped up from behind the couch and dumped some kind of gunk on Dad's head.

"What the f- ow!" I smacked Dad in the arm before he could finish. I love being able to get away with that. The twins immediately dashed to their room, dropping what I realized were two plastic cups filled with cornstarch, water, and green food colouring. Most of the homemade slime was now dripping down dad's face, and I couldn't hold back a laugh. Brooke was practically rolling on the floor, overcome with hysterics.

Dad even grinned a little. "Hah, hah. Where's the bathroom again?" I pointed him in the right direction, still giggling madly. It wasn't until he was down the hall and out of sight that Brooke and I were able to calm down.

"Those two are in **so** much trouble," I stated, picking up the forgotten cups of slime. Brooke and I tended to speak English when it was just the two of us, since she used to live with an English-speaking family.

"Yeah. Maman and Papa aren't going to be happy when they learn they dumped goop on your boyfriend's head!"

"Ew! Jacob isn't my boyfriend! He's more like a big brother! Of course, the way he acts sometimes, you'd think he was my father, or something." I could say that much to her.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I got him mixed up with Seth."

I dropped one of the cups, and some of the leftover gunk spilled onto the rug. "I told you, Seth is **not** my boyfriend, either!" My fingers fumbled as I tried to pick it back up.

"But you **want** him to be, and he wants that, too." I stared at her incredulously. "Hey, I'm eleven years old. I know things."

"You're crazy, Brookie." Brooke shrugged and went back to watching TV, pouting when she realized it'd gone to commercial break.

* * *

"What do you think of this one?" Rosalie asked, holding up a top with a **very** low neckline.

"I think Emmett's going to love it," Alice replied, and I nodded in agreement. Emmett would go crazy over her in that, although I had to wonder how long it would stay on.

Rosalie grinned and added it to the huge load of clothes slung over her arm. Anyone who was paying attention would notice that a normal person would show some difficulty carrying all that weight – there were ten shirts, nine pairs of (designer) jeans, and about a dozen dresses – but Rosalie handled it all as if it were as light as a feather. Alice carried about twice that much.

I, on the other hand, only carried a sweater and a pair of boots. Unlike my great-aunts, I didn't have tons of cash to burn. My salary at the outlet mall's juice bar just wasn't big enough to cover gas, car insurance (since I drove Papa's car, I had to pay part of the insurance), **and** a mega shopping splurge.

We were near the jewellery section when Alice's eyes went blank, and she gave a gasp of horror. "What is it?" Rosalie asked urgently.

Instead of answering, Alice whipped out her cell phone and frantically dialled a number so fast that her fingers were a blur. "Pickuppickuppickup!" she whispered. "Edward! Mrs. O'Laskey made a last-second decision to go on the tour! You've got to do something, fast!"

I gasped. My best friend was about to go down into the lair of the vampires who actually **do** drink human blood! She'd be a sitting duck! What if Grandma, Grandpa, Kate, and Garrett couldn't get them in time?

* * *

I couldn't stop shaking as I trailed behind Mom and Dad at the very back of the group. Maybe, if we were the closest to the doors, we could make a run for it. But I knew I was deluding myself. There was no way we could possibly outrun a whole swarm of vampires.

The other dozen or so tourists had no clue what was about to happen to us. An elderly couple tried to contain their hyperactive grandkids, a pair of college girls chatted in Italian, and Mom was taking pictures of every piece of deformed statue that she deemed 'interesting'. Normally I'd complain that she was wasting memory card space, but it wouldn't matter; at this rate, we'd all be dead soon.

Where were they? Edward and Bella and their Denali cousins were supposed to be watching us and keeping us safe! But I suppose they didn't have much warning; Mom had just decided on a whim, like usual. I should've considered that. The last I'd seen of them, they were talking to a guy in a creepy trench coat and sunglasses. The little bit of his face I did glimpse seemed to sparkle. It only hit me then that he must've been a vampire; probably with the Volturi. Of course they couldn't go after us without making him suspicious.

The tour guide in the fishnet tights had never mentioned her name, but I had no doubt it was Heidi. When I'd found out we'd be coming here, I'd gone to Carlisle for as much dirt on the Volturi as my brain could hold. I wasn't sure how knowing all their names and how they were going to kill us was would be helpful, though.

"Honey, hurry up," Mom insisted, taking my hand and pulling me along, "We don't want you to get lost." At least she was right about that. I did **not** feel like being lost and alone in a castle full of evil vampires.

"And now we're going to go down to the throne room to meet some actual descendants of Saint Marcus and the Volturi vampire hunters," Heidi announced, her violet eyes – make that red eyes with blue contacts – glinting. We passed through a nicely decorated hallway with a secretary desk off to the right. The woman sitting there had jet-black hair cut in a bob and was bent over a stack of paperwork, so that we couldn't see her face. I kept watching her as we walked past, and right before we turned a corner, I saw her look up.

I'd been expecting red or black eyes, so I was startled to see that her were a beautiful shade of deep green. She was human. And she knew. How was she still alive?

* * *

When I found myself being partially dragged through the double doors and into the ornate throne room, I instantly knew that our situation was now hopeless. The entire room was filled with vampires, wearing black or grey robes and not even bothering to disguise their red eyes. "Their costumes suck," one little boy whispered loudly, "They don't look anything like real vampires." Oh, if he knew… I was the only one who understood the danger.

There were three male vampires sitting on a raised platform with the same number of thrones. I knew from the Cullens' descriptions that the blond one was Caius, the one who looked bored out of his mind was 'Saint' Marcus himself, and that left Aro as the one wearing a seemingly friendly smile, but was perhaps the cruellest and most manipulative of them all. I subtly pulled my lighter out of my pocket.

Aro stood and spread his arms open wide. "Friends," he announced, "Eat up."

In a split second, total hell erupted all around me. The vampires all jumped on the other humans, snapping their neck first or simply going straight for the jugular. A stone cold hand grabbed my arm, and I whipped around, sticking the flame in the vamp's face. He screamed and stumbled back, his face smoking and going up in flames. The entire massacre stopped right away. None of the vampires moved to help their comrade. In fact, they all skittered back as he stumbled towards them, his whole body now aflame. Five seconds later, Mr. Bad-Boy-Vampire was now Mr. Pile-of-Smouldering-Ash.

Faster than my eyes could register, two more vampires rushed to my side, forced the lighter out of my hand, and pinned my arms behind my back. Caius was staring at me suspiciously. "She knew," he stated sharply, "She knew we are vulnerable to flames and had her lighter out before we even made a move." The rest of the Volturi murmured amongst each other, clearly agreeing with him.

One of the female vampires stepped forward, dropping one of the college girls to the floor carelessly. "Interesting," she said, grinning at me. My whole body was suddenly filled with a red-hot, agonizing pain. It was only the two vampires holding me up that kept me from collapsing.

"Stop it!" I heard my Mom yell. The agony ceased and I gasped, looking around and trying to catch my breath at the same time. Dad was lying immobile on the floor, while Mom was trapped in headlock by a really big vampire.

Jane looked over at her – and yes, I knew it had to be evil little Jane – and giggled. It sounded so creepy. "Would you like some, too?"

"No," I commanded, trying to sound braver than I felt, "Leave my mother alone, Jane." A wave of surprise swept through the room. I bit my tongue, realizing that I'd just admitted to knowing her name.

In a blink of an eye, I was dragged right up in front of Aro's throne. The Volturi leader reached out with one long, thin finger and touched my forehead.

My life flashed before my eyes. No joke; it felt like I was watching every moment of my life, sped up a billon times. I gasped as I realized it was Aro's powers. He was absorbing every thought and feeling I'd ever had. Only after five seconds, he stopped. "This one will live," he announced, "It seems our old friends the Cullens have been hiding something from us." Miriam! With that one touch, I'd told the Volturi everything about her! "The rest can die."

I twisted around to look at my mother. She stared back at me, desperately frightened. "No…" I begged, "No, don't! Please!" With a sadistic grin, the vampire holding her snapped her neck with a sickening, horrifying crack. "NOOOOOO!"

* * *

**Dun dun DUUNNNNNNNN... How's that for a cliffie? Next chapter, Miriam and co. launch a rescue mission to save Elsie.**


	7. Chaos

**This is the second-last chapter in the story. Yeah, I know I'm wrapping everything up in one chapter, and moving on to a short epilogue. So sue me. The epilogue's hopefully coming this weekend, I've got it all finished and everything.**

**DISCLAIMER: Me no own Twilight, as awesome as it would be.**

* * *

We were speeding home on the highway when Alice had another vision. She gasped and gripped the inside car door handle so hard that her fingers left grooves in the plastic. "What's wrong?" I cried, reaching forward from the rear and shaking her shoulders.

"They know."

"What?"

"The Volturi. Demetri is blocking Edward and the others from following the tour, and Aro's going to touch Elsie. They'll know everything. He'll send for us and have us all executed; wolves, vampires, all of us, for telling Elsie and creating you."

I sank back into my seat, stunned. What would we do now? How could we possibly come out of this alive? What would happen to my best friend? "Is she still alive?" I asked softly, dreading the answer.

"Yes. If he kills her, he'll lose the proof he needs to justify wiping us all out. After the trial twenty-eight years ago, the vampire population has become more wary of the Volturi's motives. The last thing Aro wants is another scandal. Caius doesn't care."

"So what are we going to do?"

"We go to Volterra," Rosalie stated grimly, "If we refuse, it'll look like we're the belligerent force, and nothing will stop Aro from going ahead with his plans."

"I'm going too, right?" I wouldn't be able to bear it if I couldn't help save my best friend.

"It would be a bad idea if you didn't," Alice replied, "We need to prove you're not the first of some human-vampire-shifter-hybrid army."

* * *

It was only a day later that I was boarding a flight to Italy. We'd told Maman and Papa that Esme had won a free trip for ten (Embry was staying behind to hold down the fort; Dad and Seth were only going because I was) to Rome, and couldn't I go? They seemed uncertain at first, but I had a sneaking suspicion that Jasper had taken care of all that.

I was restless throughout the entire flight, constantly worrying about my best friend. It was my fault for dragging her into this whole vampire thing. She was going to die because of me, along with my long-lost family. It was all my fault.

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, and realized it was Seth. "Don't worry," he whispered, "Everything will turn out all right, I promise."

I shrugged his hand off. "You don't believe that. You're just saying that to try and cheer me up."

He sighed. "Well, you can't blame me for trying. I don't like seeing you upset."

"We are **not** having this conversation. Not now." I stared out the window, looking down at the choppy Atlantic Ocean far beneath us.

I didn't know why he was so hard to resist. Yes, he's kind, funny, and undeniably sexy, but after three years of telling myself that if I gave in to my craving for him, it was the next step to losing my humanity, you'd think I'd manage to get over him. But there was always something pulling me towards him. I still wouldn't give up my humanity, as tempting as it was to do so.

No matter how much it hurt.

* * *

I was bummed. Miriam was worried about Elsie, and you didn't need Edward or Jasper's talents to realize that she was blaming herself, which was ridiculous. The O'Laskeys would've gone to Italy anyway. And as for the fact that the rest of us could turn out dead – all the way dead – the next morning, that was going to eventually happen one way or another. The Volturi were going to come after us at some point; it wasn't her fault, just her bad luck that she would be dragged down with us.

I could tell Jake was extremely nervous; not for himself, but for Miriam and Nessie. He didn't show it, but he didn't have to. Our pack has been together for so long, we could all read each other like an open book. He couldn't imagine life without his wife and daughter.

Miriam was on the top of the list of my worries, too. I didn't want anything to happen to her. There was no doubt I'd imprinted on her the moment she'd climbed up to me in that tree three years ago. I'd identified that from hearing Jacob, Sam and the others had described after finding their imprints. It seemed we were all finding soulmates left and right. There was Sam and Emily, Quil and Claire, Jared and Kim, Paul and Rachel, Jacob and Nessie... even Leah had found love! But it was like Miriam didn't want to accept it. That was actually okay with me, as long as she was happy. If that meant standing aside while she went out with another guy, then fine; but if he made her cry, I'd be ready to kill for her.

That would probably come in handy very soon. Killing a human – even if the world would be better off without that human – would be something I'd eventually regret, since we wolf shifters exist to **protect** humans. As for a Volturi parasite, however, all bets were off. I'd have no problem killing it whatsoever, even if Miriam's life wasn't at stake. Should any of them try to harm her, though, I would rip them apart and slowly burn them alive.

* * *

It was nearly impossible to walk instead of running, but I kept my pace slow as we made our way through the cobblestone streets of Volterra. Our plane had landed in Rome, and as soon as we were joined by the rest of the Denalis (with Kate and Garrett already there, they were definitely not going to stay out of it) and made it to the edge of the city, we actually ran the rest of the way to Volterra. Dad and Seth had to transform, and Mom and I rode on their backs. There we met up with Grandma, Grandpa, Kate, and Garrett. Then we continued through the small city, pushing our way through the red-cloaked crowd.

"What a stupid festival," Seth commented, "These people have no idea what's really going on. They're celebrating the so-called 'expulsion of the vampires' while the two most powerful vampire covens clash beneath their feet."

"Would you rather they know the truth, freak out, and declare holy war on us?" Grandma replied.

I couldn't speak at all the whole way there, for fear of throwing up. This could possibly be my last day on this earth. All the horror stories I'd heard about the Volturi had me terrified over the outcome of our meeting. I remembered that a major reason my family had survived last time was the witnesses. Carlisle had said that Aro was extremely concerned with their reputation as blameless enforcers of the law, and had had to hide his intentions of wiping out the supposed 'threat' of the vegetarian covens. But this time, we'd be meeting them in their own palace; they could do whatever they wanted to us. It was only by Alice's visions that I knew they hadn't killed Elsie yet. She'd seen more of my best friend, but refused to tell me anything. I could only guess that it was bad.

I was in such a worried daze, I didn't even register that our group was indoors until we came to a stop. In front of us stood a teenaged girl with bright red eyes. "Jane," Mom whispered to me.

Carlisle stepped forward. "Alice saw that you'd be expecting us here," he stated, "So we came."

A small smile appeared on Jane's face. A person who didn't know any better would think it was sweet and innocent. But I knew enough about her to see past the facade of sweetness, to see the sadistic pleasure and anticipation behind it. She knew we were goners, and she couldn't wait to see it. "Glad to see you all made it," she said in an almost childlike voice. Her ruby eyes darted over to rest on me. "And you must be Miriam. Elsie's told us **so much** about you."

Anger sparked in my chest. I stepped forward, but Mom held me back. Jane stared at me for a second, then glared at Grandma. "You love to spoil my fun," she spat, "Don't you?" I then realized that Grandma was shielding me, and probably the rest of my family.

"Are we going to see Aro or not?" Tanya interrupted.

Little Jane's glare turned to her, flickering towards Dad and Seth for a second. "**Most** of you will be going to see Aro. But your pets can stay outside."

Dad growled at her, calmed only by Mom's hand on his shoulder.

"The wolves come with us," Carlisle insisted, "If not, then Aro can come up here. Seth and Jacob are part of our family, and we will not leave them behind." The rest of us nodded in firm agreement, Mom and I taking Dad's hands to emphasize the point.

Jane looked like she was going to argue, but then I guess she remembered that her gift was of no use and that she was currently outnumbered seventeen to one. "Very well," she conceded bitterly, "But the dogs had better be on their best behaviour."

It really ticked me off, how she was talking about the wolves. I'm half-wolf, after all, and sure didn't appreciate her insulting my heritage. But Grandpa, who of course could see and hear all of my thoughts – particularly a little fantasy about ripping Jane's head off – placed a restraining hand on my shoulder. "Not a good idea," he whispered to me, "There's no way we'll make it out alive if you do that." Frustrated, I put that thought out of my mind; or rather, I saved it for later.

We followed Jane through a grand set of double doors and into a large chamber filled with vampires. I recognized the three Volturi leaders from the painting in Carlisle's office and the images Mom had somewhat unwillingly shown me from her memories. They hadn't changed in the slightest, of course. Caius looked sour, Marcus looked utterly bored, and Aro's demeanour seemed almost friendly.

He stood and spread his arms out wide in what I figured was supposed to be a welcoming gesture. "My dear friends!" he greeted us, "How wonderful it is to see you again!" Emmett and Garrett snorted, and Carmen muttered something to Eleazar in Spanish. "I wasn't expecting you to arrive so quickly."

Carlisle gave him a grim, forced smile. "Well, after we heard that you'd met a certain friend of ours, we felt compelled to come and ensure her safety."

"Ah, yes. I assure you, Miss O'Laskey remains unharmed in our care. We certainly did not desire to start off the meeting by informing you that she was dead."

"Bring her out," I insisted. All eyes suddenly riveted onto me, but I refused to be intimidated. "I want to see her, safe and sound."

Aro snapped his fingers, and two grey-clothed vampires swiftly left the room through a small side door. "So," Aro said, "This is the new young hybrid. How interesting." He seemed more fascinated in me than wary or disapproving. I remembered Grandpa describing Aro as a collector, and couldn't help the feeling that he was staring at me like some shiny new toy. I shrunk back a little, sticking closer to my parents. "Truly unique… one of a kind." Mom caught on to the tone in his voice as well, and put her arm around me protectively while Dad and Seth moved so that they were at the front of the group, between me and the head vampires. Caius glared at them with an expression of revulsion – or maybe it was fear. I recalled hearing that he was actually terrified of the near-extinct European werewolves.

"She's not interested," Grandpa warned, obviously answering a question in Aro's mind, "She's not an object you can put up on a shelf for display, so just forget that idea."

Aro shrugged. "Of course, young Edward, I understand. She's your granddaughter, and you want to keep her close. I was simply fascinated that such a creature could exist. Her mother's birth was a marvel in itself, but to imagine human, vampire, **and** shapeshifter blood combined in one... I highly doubt there could be another one like her."

"There isn't, unless one of the other wolves had a secret relationship with one of the South American hybrids. So don't get all paranoid that we're creating an army."

"I never thought that."

"You did, but I was actually talking to him." Grandpa nodded towards Caius, who glared at him. "But of course, you wouldn't know, since he hasn't allowed you to touch him in the past twenty-four hours. He's worried that you might try to hold him back if he tried to use that angle against us."

Caius and Aro exchanged glances. The former looked like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar (if it weren't for the current situation, I would've been bent double with laughter at his expression) and the latter had the shocked air of a person who'd just learned his best friend had betrayed him. The rest of the Volturi seemed uneasy about this. They all whispered amongst themselves, except for Marcus, who still didn't look all that interested.

The tense atmosphere was broken when the side door opened and the two vampires re-entered, holding a dishevelled Elsie in between them. She had blood spattered on her clothes and face, and bruises on her arms. As they got closer, I was able to distinguish the hand-like shapes of those deep purple marks. I sucked my breath in, shocked, hearing the others do the same.

She gasped when she saw us. "No!" she whimpered, "Guys, I'm sorry! I swear, I didn't say anything, but Aro..." Elsie drooped in her captors' arms, clearly exhausted. On an impulse, I shrugged Mom's arms off, pushed between Dad and Seth, and ran over to her. The vampires let her go, and she collapsed into my arms. Pulling her to my feet, I half-carried my best friend over to the group. Esme, ever the mothering type, bustled to her other side while the others closed up around us, shielding our fragile human friend from any more potential harm.

"Elsie?" I whispered. She had a glassy, dazed look in her eyes, and seemed to be drifting in and out. That scared me. "Elsie, please, talk to me."

She looked up at me. "Mom..." she murmured, "Dad... those little kids, all of them... they're all gone, I saw them die... I **watched** it." She started sobbing, and I hugged her tightly.

A hot fury began burning up inside of me. Mr. and Mrs. O'Laskey were like another set of parents to me, and they meant the world to Elsie, their only child. I never liked the way the Volturi – and any other regular vampires – killed humans thinking of them as only dumb animals for slaughter, but to do that to someone I **knew**... It was unforgivable!

I stood, letting Mom fill in my spot, and turned to face the Volturi leaders with white-hot anger. Again, I just felt like going berserk on them. A sudden wave of calm rushed over me, but I resisted it. "Stop it, Jasper," I said, "If I don't let off some steam right now, I'm going to blow!"

The attention was back on me. Aro regarded me pensively. "She does seem quick to anger," he mused out loud, "Perhaps she **does** pose a danger."

My family moved to stand protectively around me, but I wasn't scared anymore. In fact, I didn't give a flying rat's ass whether I was going to die or not. It was just a simple, irrelevant fact. What mattered was giving those demons what they'd had coming to them for centuries.

* * *

I knew right away that Miriam was angrier than she'd ever been in her entire life. I can always tell how she's feeling. Of course, I wasn't the only one; Jacob and Nessie's parental instincts and Edward and Jasper's talents probably pinked up on it only a split second after I did. The others were quick to follow.

In fact, Aro seemed to be the only one who didn't notice – I'm not counting Marcus. Instead he simply gave her a puzzled look. Then Caius rolled his eyes and muttered: "Foolish girl."

She snapped.

Miriam, screaming in rage, dove at Aro. That was the spark meeting gunpowder, and then the whole room seemed to explode. There were suddenly angry psycho bloodsuckers fighting all over the place, but I kept my eyes on Miriam. Felix had managed to pry her off of Aro, and was restraining her easily, holding her a foot off the ground with her arms behind her back. Then, with an unnecessary grunt, he tossed her into the nearest wall.

That did it for me. Jumping forward, phasing in mid-air, I tackled the biggest Volturi to the ground. His rock-hard head made a satisfying _crunch_ing sound upon impact with the floor. I could also see a vampire, whose name I didn't know, getting his head snapped off by Bella through Jacob's eyes, as well as Rosalie bitch-slapping Chelsea, and Nessie making a run for the doors, carrying a bleeding and screaming Elsie in her arms.

I quickly chose my next target – Aro. Take out one of the leaders, and they all fall apart, right? Growling, I dashed towards him. Suddenly, I felt compelled to turn around and go check on Miriam. Why was I continuing to fight while I didn't know if she was okay or not? When I got to her, she was getting to her feet. A tiny trickle of blood was coming from her forehead, but she was otherwise fine, thanks to her vampire resiliency. It was then that I suddenly wondered why I'd changed course like that. I looked over at the leaders, who were just standing and watching the chaos, and spotted a female vampire crouching behind Aro. Renata, his bodyguard. The shield. Dammit, I'd forgotten about her! How could I get to Aro when she was interfering?

Miriam ran past me and jumped at Aro again. I expected her to be diverted as well, but Renata seemed to have no effect on her, just like her mother and grandmother. She slammed into him and knocked him to the ground. Marcus and Caius tried to pull her off, but I was having none of that. I grabbed Marcus' arm and tossed him to the side and bit Caius on the shoulder. My least favourite Volturi vamp snarled and took a swing at me. I felt a bruise forming right away, but ignored it. It would heal up in a couple of minutes, anyway.

Caius ducked his head down to bite me, but Bella came out of nowhere and punched him in the face. I let go and took out another vampire trying to sneak up behind her.

"_Careful, Seth,"_ Jacob warned me, _"That was a little too close. You __**know**__ that stuff is poisonous to us."_

"_I know, I know. You just watch __**your**__ back."_ My point was proven when Afton tried to tackle the other wolf, only to be intercepted in mid-air by a very angry Tanya.

I ducked as Demetri took a swing at me, then jumped up and grabbed his head in my mouth. If any of us got the chance to escape, they'd fare much better in the aftermath if the Volturi didn't have their precious tracker. Emmett came out of nowhere and tackled Demetri, taking down all but his head, which was still clenched between my teeth. Well, that was simple. I dropped it, disgusted that I now had the taste of vamp in my mouth. The Cullens' scents were a little annoying, but non-vegetarian vampires were much worse.

"Miriam!" Esme shouted. I looked and saw my imprint trapped in a chokehold by Aro, gasping for air.

I dove towards her, determined to get that creep off her. There was the faint tugging on my mind, urging me to go elsewhere. I almost submitted. Then I saw Miriam's face again, and got my focus back. I guess imprinting is stronger than ever Renata's gift. I slammed into Aro, biting and clawing like mad, not even paying attention to the world around me. It only took two seconds for his head to go flying, rolling down the steps of his elevated platform.

And just as quickly as the fight had erupted, all went silent.

* * *

I ripped the stone-stiff arms off my neck and staggered to my feet. Seth was beside me in wolf form, tensed up but not moving to attack. There was a similar stillness in each and every vampire in the room. Some were laying in pieces on the floor; I was relieved to see that, by some miracle, no one in my family was included among them. Tanya and Kate were standing over the dismembered body of Caius, their grudge for Irina's murder finally satisfied. Everyone was just staring around in shock, watching and waiting for a clue as to what would happen next.

Carlisle was the first to move. He straightened up from his half-crouched position and made his way towards Aro's head, though keeping on alert for another attack. Esme was the first to flit to his side, followed by all the other Cullens and Denalis. Dad loped over to my side, and I hugged him around his huge neck, shaking.

It was then that the shrieking started. A frail-looking female vampire sank to her knees and shrieked. I learned later that she was Sulpicia, Aro's mate. How someone so cruel and manipulative could have a perfect match is still beyond me. None of the Volturi vampires moved to comfort her or to stop the grating sound of her wails. Dad was in fact the one who silenced her, letting out a loud growl.

Only when silence had been restored, aside from Sulpicia's whimpers, did Carlisle speak. "We are done here," he announced gravely, "This did not have to happen, but maybe it will convince you that will not stand for any harm coming to our family. We shall take our leave now."

As a group, we started to move towards the door, but two Volturi blocked our way. There was a moment of heightened tension as we stared each other down.

"Let them go." I barely heard the soft voice. Turning around, I saw that Marcus had stood up, his expression as bored as ever. "It will not do to continue these useless battles, to lose any more lives for a coven rivalry so trivial." Jane looked like she was going to protest, but he cut her off. "As the only Volturi leader left, that is my command." He looked me in the eye and nodded. I nodded back, then slung an arm over Dad's massive neck and walked out with my family.

Perhaps Marcus, at least, wasn't so bad, after all.

As we reached the tunnel to the outside, we had to leave Dad and Seth for a little while. Alice quickly ducked into a store and bought some new clothes for them, and then they rejoined us, now in their human forms. I hugged them both, still not completely recovered from my shock.

When I touched Seth, I didn't fight the pull this time. I was no longer scared of my 'inner animal'. It was fierce, and reacted purely on instinct and emotion, but it really did know what mattered most. In fact, I no longer felt like it was a separate part of me; it was who I was, and who I was born to be. I realized then that clinging to my humanity was just an illusion, because I was still the same old me, just not as afraid of myself and what I felt.

I held tightly onto the one I loved and didn't let go.

* * *

"Elsie!" My fear level was back up at the top of the meter. Despite being not quite as fast as everyone else, I was the first one to crash through the warehouse doors. Mom wasn't too far away, cradling my best friend in her lap. I rushed over, fearing the worst.

Grandpa had found Mom's thoughts and led us there. He also told us that when the fight had started, Jane had darted over and, on Aro's orders, bitten Elsie.

Elsie was whimpering and moaning and occasionally crying out in agony. Her eyes were strangely blank, and I realized that Mom must've been feeding comforting images into her head to try and ease the pain. However, that wasn't enough for me. "Can't you do something?" I cried.

Carlisle, kneeling down beside her, shook his head. "The venom's spread too far. All we can do now is wait until the transformation is complete. Then we'll have to help her adjust."

I gasped and looked down at my best friend. It wasn't her becoming a vampire that bothered me. Rather, it was the suffering she would have to go through during and after the transformation. I knew all about newborns and their undying craving for blood during their first year. Getting her adjusted to a vegetarian lifestyle would be difficult, and for her, very painful.

I felt a pair of strong, warm arms wrap around me, and leaned into Seth's embrace. "It'll be fine," he assured me, "She's going to be okay."

* * *

**Well, that's pretty much it. I know it seems unrealistic that everyone would survive the battle against the Volturi, but I couldn't bring myself to kill anyone off.**

**Epilogue coming this weekend, and then you'll have to wait a LONG while for the sequel.**

**'Till then, it's been fun writing this for you guys!**

**PS: One last thing, Read and Review plz!**


	8. Epilogue

**Gonna keep it short and simple here, I loved writing this story, and I'm sad to see it coming to an end, but check again in about a year and you might see the sequel 'Elise', which is about Elsie finding her mate and discovering life as a vampire.**

**So I hope you all enjoyed your stay in Miriam's univerese, you're welcome to come back for a visit anytime!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight**

* * *

One year later, and everything is perfect.

Elsie's managed to get though the newborn stage just fine, and is now well-adjusted to her new life. Being a big believer in the pursuit of knowledge, she's ecstatic about the many years she has ahead of her to learn. I think she's a dork to be so happy about that, but she's **my** dork, and I wouldn't have her any other way.

When we got back home, we had to hide her from everyone. When the O'Laskeys didn't return from Italy, the police spent pretty much half the year searching for them, then they gave up. The whole family was declared ead, even though they have no hard proof. We have Elsie, and the Volturihad already disposed of her parents' bodies. I went to the funeral, and everyone attributed my lack of tears to denial. After all, Elsie and I have been best friends since we were four.

As for the Volturi, we managed to get a sort of peace agreement with Marcus. We stay out of their business, and they stay out of ours. And that's totally fine with us. We were all sick of playing politics.

Seth and I are finally together, and I couldn't be happier. Dad's not so pleased about it, but Mom's ogt him whipped. Every time he shows disapproval, she leans over and whispers something in his ear, and he backs off right away.

The Cullens have spent four years in Riverston; they'll be moving on soon, and I'll be going with them. My adopted family is sad to see me leave, but they all knew it would happen eventually. Now that I'm done with high school, I'll be taking online courses in the roots of mythology. Now that I've discovered my roots, I'm fascinated with the lore of vampires and werewolves. It'll be fun to look at the traditional views now that I know their true natures.

That isn't even the best part. We've done some tests, and apparently, I've already stopped growing. Like Mom and everyone else, I'll be able to live forever, and spend all that time with my family and the love of my life.

Yes, everything is perfect.

THE END


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